DIY nucleated beer glass meltdown

[enikoy]

I have a couple great nucleated pint glasses with laser etching on the inner base. These work great on creating/retaining a small head on my IPAs (but are a bit too active for more carbonated beers).

E.g.

So I had a "light bulb moment" on the weekend and decided to scratch the inside base of a cheap 375ml beer glass I have a set of and have been using for a few months. Used a bit of quartz held in long nose pliers, held the glass down firmly and made a few scratches in the center area (not the edge). Just a few and it worked a treat, generating a stream of bubbles. Worked so well, I did all 4 glasses in the set.

Then over the following day, 3 of the 4 glasses have cracked around the base! Not in hot water, not while full, but empty. I even heard the 3rd on go ping and crack some time after spotting damage on the first two.

So I'm scratching my head on this one. Have I disturbed the surface tension on the glass? The cracks are all the way around the base as shown below and the top part can simply be pulled away from the base.

 

[MHB]

Ah - Stress
You will probably find the glasses are either hardened or remarkably cheap (think peanut butter), either way there is a lot of stress in the glass which given a chance will relieve itself (think chip/scratch).
You can get glass etching paste might be a bit safer, or any catering/bar supplier will have low cost etched glasses.

Personally I'm not a fan, the nucleating glasses push CO2 out of solution, this changes the taste of the beer, rather have a beer tasting at its best than looking pretty.
Mark

 

[enikoy]

The glasses were about as cheap and nasty as they get, so no loss. Been an interesting physics lesson for both the nucleation of the CO2 and the stress inbuilt in the glasses.

Will just go buy a set methinks

 

[brewgasm]

I got the crown headmaster nucleated schooners pretty cheap they are great with hop forward beers. My pint glasses however are not nucleated so I have the best of both worlds. I think that with nucleated you want smaller volumes because the beer will flatten pretty quickly and go traditional with the larger volumes for a longer glass life, especially with beers that improve as they warm.
Edit, by glass life I mean the loiter time beer has in the glass not the lifespan of the glass lol

 

[Rocker1986]

I did some of mine with a bit of fine grit sandpaper. Hasn't affected them at all in terms of breakage so far. They look like pretty decent glasses though. Other ones I have are already etched.

 

[krusty_oz]

Campbells cash and carry had headmasters under $2/schooner last time I looked. In SA if you have RAA membership you can shop there without a membership (which is free, just need an ABN)